Best Homemade Chicken Pot Pie Recipe (From Scratch)
Posted Aug 26, 2020, Updated Mar 25, 2024
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This homemade Chicken Pot Pie recipe is made completely from scratch and is the best chicken pot pie you’ll ever eat. A delicious filling made with a from-scratch sauce is nestled between two layers of flaky, buttery homemade pie crust for a meal your entire family will love.
Is there a more classic, cozy, fall meal than Chicken Pot Pie (or classic homemade meatloaf)? This homemade Chicken Pot Pie recipe is made from scratch and is the best chicken pot pie you’ll ever eat.
I often find chicken pot pie recipes with lots of processed ingredients – but not this from scratch version! You’ll never used condensed soups or buy a frozen pot pie again after trying this homemade chicken pot pie.
The delicious filling is thick and made with a from-scratch sauce that is never runny. And it’s all enveloped in a homemade double layer pie crust that is flaky and buttery, a meal your entire family will love.
Chicken Pot Pie Recipe: Ingredients & Substitutions
- Crust. See notes on this All Butter Pie Crust Recipe for substitutions on the crust ingredients.
- Cooked chicken breasts. I most often use diced rotisserie chicken. You can use leftover grilled chicken, crock pot pulled chicken or cook it on the stovetop (instructions in the recipe card). You can also use leftover turkey and make turkey pot pie.
- Red potatoes. Yukon Gold potatoes are a great substitute if you don’t have red potatoes.
- Carrots, Celery, Peas, Corn. You can add or subtract just about any of the veggies in this recipe and use your favorites with great results.
- Better Than Bouillon. This is a pretty important ingredient in this chicken pot pie recipe. It is my favorite chicken base by far and imparts the best flavor. You can use another brand or bouillon cubes.
- Whole milk. 2% milk or half and half are good substitutions.
- All-purpose flour. You can sub gluten-free all-purpose flour if desired. Also bread flour works well in a pinch.
- Egg Wash. Optional but recommended. You can use just an egg yolk or just cream if desired, but I find a combination works the best.
How to mMake Chicken Pot Pie (from scratch)
There are a few steps in this chicken pot pie recipe, but it really is easy to make! As always, we’ll walk through the process step-by-step and don’t forget to watch the video!
Make the Crust
So many people wonder, “How do you make chicken pot pie crust from scratch?” Well It’s really easy and takes less than 5 minutes! You can follow this all-butter pie crust tutorial and video for more detailed information on how to make it!
It’s important to make the crust first because it has to chill for at least 1 hour before being rolled and used in this chicken pot pie recipe.
Make the Sauce
The next step in the process is to make the sauce, and then set it aside while you cook potatoes and veggies for the filling. To do this, whisk together flour, onion powder, garlic powder, garlic salt pepper and milk together in a small bowl.
In a 4-quart pan over medium heat, boil water, then add the chicken bouillon and whisk until dissolved. Add the milk mixture to boiling water/bouillon and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick (about 3 minutes). Remove from heat and set aside to use later.
Make the Filling
Add potatoes, 2 TBS butter and garlic and water to a large, nonstick saucepan and cover. Cook, covered for 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft, stirring occasionally.
Add carrots, onion, celery and additional 2 TBS butter. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, or until soft, stirring occasionally.
How to Cook Chicken for Chicken Pot Pie
If you don’t keep rotisserie chicken on hand, to cook the chicken breasts follow these instructions:
- Cover chicken breasts in chicken broth and bring to a boil.
- Boil the chicken covered for about 20-30 minutes, or until easily shredded. Remember, the thicker your chicken breasts are, the longer they will need to cook.
Add peas, corn, chicken and sauce and then stir to combine. Cover and set aside while you roll out the pie crusts.
Assemble
Now it’s time to put all the delicious parts of this chicken pot pie together!
Roll out both discs of dough. Fit one disc to the bottom of the pie plate. Roll out the second to be used as the top. Place bottom dough into the pie plate, then pour the filling into the bottom crust and spread it out evenly.
Add the other crust on top, pinch the edges together and cut an “X” in the top. Brush with the egg wash (if desired).
Bake & Cool
Use a pie crust shield to protect the outer crust and bake at 425 for 30 – 35 minutes on the lower rack of your oven, until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Remove the pie crush shield in the last 5 minutes of baking if the outer crust is not browning.
Remove from the oven and place the chicken pot pie on a wire cooling rack. Cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Serve!
While I usually serve this homemade chicken pot pie warm as a meal of it’s own (no side dishes required. You can choose to serve it with your favorite side dishes! Here are some recommendations on what to serve with chicken pot pie:
- Salad. We love serving chicken pot pie with a nice green salad, like this burrata salad, kale salad, etc.
- Dinner rolls. These homemade dinner rolls are the perfect compliment to this chicken pot pie!
- Bread. Who doesn’t love to eat bread alongside chicken pot pie? This dutch oven bread or Pretzel bread are great choices.
- Vegetables. A side of roasted green beans, roasted broccoli, or balsamic roasted vegetables are great side dishes to serve with chicken pot pie.
FAQs about Chicken Pot Pie
If you find you have a soggy bottom crust I have two suggestions on how to troubleshoot that:
Make sure the filling is cooled slightly before adding it to the bottom crust.
Bake the chicken pot pie on the lowest rack in your oven to ensure it bakes thoroughly.
Thankfully the homemade sauce in this chicken pot pie recipes ensures that your final result will be a beautifully thick, not liquidy homemade chicken pot pie!
If you don’t eat it all in 24 hours, (which we almost always do) this chicken pot pie recipe from scratch will last for 3-5 days when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Yes. I recommend baking the entire thing and then putting it in the freezer. To reheat, simply cover the frozen chicken pot pie with foil and warm it in the oven at 375 degrees F for 35-45 minutes.
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Best Homemade Chicken Pot Pie Recipe (From Scratch)
Equipment
Ingredients
Double Pie Crust
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 cup salted butter chilled and cubed
- ½ cup ice water
Chicken pot pie filling
- 2 chicken breasts cooked and shredded (about 4-5 cups)
- 2 red potatoes diced (about 2 cups)
- 4 Tablespoons butter divided
- ½ cup water
- 1 ½ Tablespoons minced garlic
- 3 carrots diced
- 2 stalks celery (1 cup), diced
- ½ cup onion diced
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- ½ cup frozen peas
- ½ cup frozen corn
Chicken pot pie filling sauce
- 2 cups water
- 2 ½ Tablespoons better than bouillon chicken base
- 1 ½ cups whole milk
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Egg Wash
- 1 Tablespoon heavy cream (or whole or 2% milk)
- 1 egg yolk
Instructions
Make the Crust
- Add flour, sea salt, sugar, butter and ice cold water to the container of a food processor fitted with the “S” blade.
- Process until coarse crumbs form.
- Dump the dough mixture out onto a work surface and form it into a ball. Then divide it into two equal portions and form those portions into two discs.
- Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour, or overnight.
- After crust has chilled and you are ready to make the chicken pot pie:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Make the Sauce
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, onion powder, garlic powder, garlic salt and pepper.
- Add milk and whisk until combined, set aside.
- In a 4-quart pan over medium heat, boil water.
- Add chicken bouillon and whisk until dissolved.
- Add milk/dry ingredient mixture to boiling water/bouillon, whisk to combine.
- Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick (about 3 minutes).
- Remove from heat, cover and set aside.
Make the Filling
- Add potatoes, 2 TBS butter and garlic and water to a large, nonstick saucepan and cover. Cook covered for 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft, stirring occasionally.
- Add carrots, onion, celery and additional 2 TBS butter. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, or until soft, stirring occasionally.
- Add peas, corn, chicken and sauce. Stir until combined. Remove from heat and set aside.
Assemble the Chicken Pot Pie
- Roll out both discs of dough.
- Fit one disc to the bottom of the pie plate. Roll out the second to be used as the top.
- Place bottom dough into the pie plate.
- Put filling on top of the crust.
- Add the other crust on top, pinch the edges together and cut an “X” in the top.
- Whisk together the egg yolk and heavy cream.
- Brush it all over the crust with a pastry brush.
- Use a pie crust shield to protect the outer crust.
Bake, Cool & Serve
- Bake at 425 for 30 – 35 minutes on the lower rack of your oven, until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Remove the pie crush shield in the last 5 minutes of baking if the outer crust is not browning.
- Remove from the oven and place the chicken pot pie on a wire cooling rack. Cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Video
Notes
- Crust. See notes on this All Butter Pie Crust Recipe for substitutions on the crust ingredients.
- Cooked chicken breasts. I most often use diced rotisserie chicken. You can use leftover grilled chicken, crock pot pulled chicken or cook it on the stovetop (instructions in the recipe card). You can also use leftover turkey and make turkey pot pie.
- Red potatoes. Yukon Gold potatoes are a great substitute if you don’t have red potatoes.
- Carrots, Celery, Peas, Corn. You can add or subtract just about any of the veggies in this recipe and use your favorites with great results.
- Better Than Bouillon. This is a pretty important ingredient in this chicken pot pie recipe. It is my favorite chicken base by far and imparts the best flavor. You can use another brand or bouillon cubes.
- Whole milk. 2% milk or half and half are good substitutions.
- All-purpose flour. You can sub gluten-free all-purpose flour if desired. Also bread flour works well in a pinch.
- Egg Wash. Optional but recommended. You can use just an egg yolk or just cream if desired, but I find a combination works the best.
- Cover chicken breasts in chicken broth and bring to a boil.
- Boil the chicken covered for about 20-30 minutes, or until easily shredded. Remember, the thicker your chicken breasts are, the longer they will need to cook.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Seriously good. My skills at making pretty pie crusts suck but didn’t matter nobody cares what it looks like when it tastes this good.
Oh my gosh!! This is the best chicken pot pie recipe ever! I have never made pie crust before and this was easy and was so buttery.
This will be in my regular rotation!
I made a dozen potpies to give away for Christmas gifts using your recipe. My husband and I enjoyed one for ourselves. I’m sure we’ll get rave reviews!
We half baked the pies and told everyone to bake them for 30 minutes or freeze them and bake for an hour.
Thanks for sharing your recipe.
This makes me so happy! Thank you so much Anita!
This chicken pot pie was delicious. It was totally worth all the time and effort. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe.
This was amazing!!! I have to admit that I didn’t do it all from scratch. I’m terrible at making pies crust so I made the filling. I even cheated a little there. I used frozen vegetables and canned diced potatoes. But the sauce is spot on!!!! Thank you for sharing this. It’ll be in my recipe book as a go to favorite for comfort foods.
Made this recently and it was perfection. The sauce is really what makes it over the top. Never would have thought of doing it that way. Delicious! You’ve expanding my thinking on pot pies. Next time I will definitely make my own crust! That’s gonna make it even better if possible. Thanks!
Is there anyway you can freeze this or pre-make it? I want to prep this for my friend while she recovers from a surgery. Her husband isn’t the best chef and I want to make this for them!
The better than bouillon is a great addition! I used store bought crust to save some time and I also added mushrooms. It turned out fantastic. A new family favorite! Thank you!
Can you make the crust ahead of time and store it? If so, what is the best way of going about this?
Can you use Tuna instead of chicken? I haven’t made anything from your kitchen. I have, however, I made a new folder for your recipes. Lol. I think your husband should be a food critic
Yes, you could use tuna!